Process of preserving cereal foods.



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HENRY D. \VINTON, OF WELLESLEY HILLS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF TO FRANCIS C. HERSEY', OF VVELLESLEY HILLS, MASSA- CHUSETTS.

PROCESS OF PRESERWNG CEREAL FOODS.

SPECIEIGATZON forming part of Letters Patent No. 713,580, dated November11, 1902. Application filed December 21, 1901 Serial No. 86,749. (Nospecimens.)

T 0 (tZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY D. WIN-TON, a citizen of the United States,residing at YVellesley Hills, in the county of Norfolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods forthe Treatment of Cereals, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

My invention relates to a method of treati'ng cereal foods for thepurpose of retaining a perfectly clean, wholesome, and palatable foodput up in a form to best protectit against deterioration by molding,souring, and the action of germs. I am aware that many attempts havebeen made to protect this class of foods by sterilization, chemicaltreatment, coating of the granules, and pressing them into cakes orpackages; but none of the processes has proved efficient, or ifefficient in some respects the processes have failed in others, so thatthe products were not marketable.

By my improved process I am enabled not only to treat the cereals in asimple and effectual way, but I am enabled to put the food into amarketable condition, by which it is preserved in a perfectly clean,wholesome, palatable, and attractive form and in a manner to bestprotect it against molding, souring, and the germination of bacteria andagainst putrefaction of organisms.

My method or process, together with the various modifications of it, maybe explained as follows: The stages of the process consist in firstcleansing the natural or uncooked cereal before it has been crushed orground to the desired granulation by pa sing it through a machine, whichremoves all dust and dirt, then passing it through a stirringmachine,which thoroughly stirs the granulated product while a small amountofsyrup, composed of sugar and water, is being fed to it, so that eachparticle by the action of this stirring is coated with a film of thissyrup, then feeding the moistened granulated product to the hopper ofthe molding-machine, which automatically compresses it into small cubes,blocks, or tablets and delivers them upon suitable plates, which areplaced in heated ovens and when thoroughly dried removing these blocksor tablets from the ovens and packing them in suitable boxes or cartonsfor the market.

In further elaboration of this process after putting the crushed cerealin as wholesome condition as possible I mix it with a syrup of sugarwhich is preferably dissolved in cold water, or, at any rate, which isnot a cooked syrup, which should be of agage of30 Baum scale. Thisdepends upon the character of the cereal to be treated and the characterof the granulation, a greater or less quantity being used and of a moreor less density, according to the product which is being treated. Thesyrup acts to coat each granular particle of the cereal and protect itagainst deterioration and at the same time acts as a cementing agent tohold the granulestogether when they are compressed. The granules arecompressed while they are still moist with the syrup into small blocksor tablets and when delivered from the press in soft blocks areimmediately transferred to heated ovens to thoroughly dry them andevaporate all moisture. The granules are then wholly coated by a film ofsyrup, which keeps out the air, and then again each granule is protectedby its neighbors by being pressed into a mass, thus leaving the finishedblock or crushed cereal as entirely protected as possible,and whenpacked closely together in boxes it is thoroughly protected againstdeterioration by the action of germs and putrefaction of the same andalso against danger of molding or souring, being free from moisture andprotected from atmospheric conditions which would otherwise act todestroy it. Further, the cereals so treated retain their naturalappearance, as the coating with syrup does not soak perceptibly into theparticles, so that the fiber is liable to be broken or crushed downunder pressure; but the cereal retains its granulated appearance in theblocks or tablets, and on the evaporation of the water of the syrupthere is no gloss or pasty appearance given to the product; but it hasall the desirable treatment for protection, While its appearance is notin any way deteriorated.

It should be understood that the invention herein described relates onlyto the treatment of the forms of cereals now commonly used for food andthat the purpose of the invention is not in any Way to change the shapeof the granules of such cereals or their properties when cooked, butsimply to preserve their present qualities in a more permanent way byaffording a protection against such destructive tendencies as they arenew subject to. To this end the granules as ordinarily prepared for themarket are first subjected to antisepsis, (and I prefer for this purposethat a mate rial be used which shall also act to bind or tie togetherthe granules in the form of a block and which shall be made hard andnonadhesive by heat.) Preferably I use the sugar or syrup for thispurpose; but any adhesive and preserving fluid having thecharacteristics of the sugar or syrup may be substituted therefor. It isnot intended that the substance used for this purpose shall in any Wayaffect the quality or flavor of the cereals when cooked. It is appliedto the granules in very thin films and while in a warm and moistcondition, and the granules thus provided with thin films are combinedtogether by light pressure while they are still warm and moist, and thisis done without fracturing or opening the individual films or coatingsor crushing the granules. The antiseptic coating is then hardened andmade absolutely non-adhesive by subjecting the block to a dryinginfluence, preferably in an oven. The degree of the coating applied tothe granules is of the slightest. It is not sufficient to sweeten thecooked cereal. It is not even sufiicient to cause the granules to adheretogether without the use of a mild pressure, and it would be of no valueas a binding agent were it not capable of being hardened by drying.There are some cereals which have been partially treated by heat, sothat they are not entirely uncooked; but for the purposes of thisinvention or discovery they may be considered substantially uncookedfoods.

Having thus described my invention or discovery, I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent 1. The herein-described method of treatingcereal foods for preserving the same, such method comprising thefollowing steps: subjecting the granulated cereal of the characterspecified to antisepsis by mixing it with a thin sugar syrup for thepurpose of coating the granules, compressing the coated granules intoblocks without breaking the granules or their coatings, and subjectingthe said blocks to a drying temperature whereby the antiseptic coatingsare hardened and made nonadhesive.

2. The method of treating cereal foods of the character specified forpreserving the same, such method comprising the following steps:thoroughly cleansing the granulated cereal, subjecting the same toantisepsis by mixing with the granulated cereal a thin sugar syrup Whilethe said granulated cereal is being rapidly agitated and for the purposeof coating the granules, compressing the coated granules into blockswithout breaking the granules or their coatings, and subjecting the saidblocks to a drying temperature for the purpose of hardening the coatingsand rendering them non-adhesive.

J. M. DOLAN, J. E. R. HAYES.

